Some
retailers are known to sell
signed copies. Since signatures can be forged, signed comics rarely go
for more than the price of an unsigned comic. In some cases, signatures
can devalue the price of a comic.

Notes/Plot Summary

The
story begins with Michael Alexander
being tossed into a steam pit deep beneath Grand Central Station in
Manhattan.
Chasm prematurely gloats at the demise of Michael. Michael ascends from
the pit in his Quantum form to find Chasm and his henchmen gone.
Michael
is sickened by the human remains he saw at the bottom of the pit. He
calls
out to Mercy who was dragged off by Chasm. Michael is attacked both
physically
and mentally by monsters in the substratum. Rather than fight them, he
just enters the real world again and ignores them. A man named Leper
approaches
and introduces himself. He offers to help Michael find Mercy. Leper
leads
Michael to a man named Peeper. Michael finds out through Peeper that
Mercy
has been taken above. Michael departs for the surface. Michael gets
home, avoids the neighbors,
flips on the television and mulls over the whereabouts of Mercy. The
story
ends with Michael watching a CNN news story that features Charles Mal,
billionaire industrialist. Michael realizes that Chasm is Charles Mal.

Notable
Quotes: "Defending DEFIANT has
cost us $200,000 and literally hundreds of man-hours. I believe that
was Marvel's real purpose--bleed us, waste our time, slow us down,
damage
us, maybe even put us out of business. Killing competitors is one way
to
protect market share."1
Jim Shooter (commenting on Defiant's lawsuit with Marvel Comics)